Many of the medical care garments and products, protective wear garments, mortuary and veterinary products, and personal care products in use today are partially or wholly constructed of extruded filamentary web materials such as nonwoven web materials. Examples of such products include, but are not limited to, medical and health care products such as surgical drapes, gowns and bandages, protective workwear garments such as coveralls and lab coats, and infant, child and adult personal care absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, disposable swimwear, incontinence garments and pads, sanitary napkins, wipes and the like. Other uses for extruded filamentary web materials include geotextiles and house wrap materials. For these applications extruded filament web materials provide functional, tactile, comfort and/or aesthetic properties that can approach or even exceed those of traditional woven textiles or knitted cloth materials, yet these products must be manufactured at a cost that is consistent with single- or limited-use disposability.
Various types of equipment for making extruded filament web materials by extruding a plurality or curtain of filaments are well known in the art, and are available in a variety of widths such as 1 meter and 2 meter wide filament extrusion dies and as large as 5 meter wide filament extrusion dies. However, where it is desired that the extruded web of filaments produced by such apparatus be less wide than the full extrusion width of the apparatus or extrusion die, the extra width of the thus-produced filamentary web must be trimmed off and either discarded or somehow recycled back into the filament extrusion process. It would be highly desirable to be able to control the extruded width of the filamentary curtain in-process in order to avoid or decrease the waste associated with trimming substantial portions of the width of the product.
Therefore, there is a continuing need for efficient and controllable filament extrusion apparatus and methods for extruding filaments.